america's senator braces for confirmation battle as obama picks a so-called assassination saw the john brennan and surprise maverick the pacifist chuck hagel a top security jobs. adama in downing street britain's coalition government tries to trumpet its midterm success on its future plans leave the public unimpressed. north korea lives that's why wolf will a visit of a hit although it's a giant google amid reports the secretive state is inviting german economists to help it open up foreign investment. and if it's not of writing in

belfast flags up of the social and political divide the mildren island has police use non-lethal force on loyalists angered by restrictions on displaying the union flag. it's five pm in moscow and you're watching r t with me to bomb would say all top story this hour now a pacifist are accused of being anti israeli in charge of the military and an apparent supporter of. those in charge of intelligence that president obama's recommendations to run the pentagon and the cia and she can pull the nominees. by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obama is

arguably trying to change the perception that he has embraced bush administration national security policy because after four years of militaristic foreign policy that's how people see it chuck hagel former senator from nebraska vietnam war veteran has been one of very very few u.s. politicians who opposed u.s. military action and who dares to question and dissent from washington orthodoxies on foreign policy one of them has to do with israel he dared to publicly point out that the u.s. and israel are separate countries and american interests should trump israeli interests when they conflict and that's a subversive thing to say here in washington could be a career killer he advocated for direct negotiations with hamas he condemned the power of the pro israel lobby in washington here's one of his statements to that effect the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i have always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel needless to say his nomination for the position of defense secretary has incurred

a slew of objections for the past three weeks different interest groups have been running attack ads on t.v. saying things like he's soft on iran he's a bad choice for the job chuck hagel unlike the vast majority of u.s. politicians who keep repeating the all options are on the table montra has allowed himself to say outright that attacking iran is a stupid idea is nomination is seen as a bold move on president obama's part. image wise for the president has hinted at possible changing foreign policy but many fear that charge could deliver that change. more than substance because there's only so much one person can do in washington speaking of the other person along with chuck hagel president obama nominated his counterterrorism adviser john brennan as the next director of the cia john brennan has been in charge of some of obama's most controversial policies including the targeted assassinations program one where the administration determines who will be marked for execution without any due process oversight or

transparency is the man who's been in charge of president obama's kill list last year john brennan claimed that the u.s. drone program caused no civilian deaths in pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many accounts but the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hey go and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary lew kokesh to you if we do is that being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft retired u.s. army colonel douglas macgregor things that if senate approves

a goal as the pentagon chief will see much less warmongering washington. well there are a number of things first of all hago has been a very effective and strong critic of the interventions over the last several years and the mismanagement of our policies and the squandering of blood and treasure on nations that make no sense strategically for the united states that's what subset large numbers of people who have supported bad decisions to decision to intervene and then occupy iraq and then to transform the initial operation in afghanistan into a nation building mission president obama has always been disinclined to attack iran and i think we're going to see some evidence of in the months ahead for an alternative approach which will rely more heavily on the go sheesh and so i don't think the the desire of the israeli lobby and the look good government until you're in tel aviv for an attack on iran will will ultimately occur in

maine security posts especially john brennan get the every mountain treatment in today's breaking the set at three thirty pm g.m.t. . the white house counterterrorism policy has gone a little something like this shoot first ask questions later and answer to no one catchy phrase for which we should thank john brennan in fact he coaches obama every terror today on how to assassinate around the world this is the number one advisor overseeing the drone kings kill list john brennan's nickname is the assassination czar for godsake and this is the guy who is ushering this country to the next phase of the war on terror. marking the half point of its term in office the u.k.'s ruling coalition has started a list of its achievements a safe also safed up with one hundred eighty reform promises mostly myna but others

threatening mall sarah team r g seven for its reports on the midterm review. prime minister david cameron and the dutch team leaders because it should nick clegg giving one of their rare joint public. this midterm review it was an awkward appearance it was really really difficult watching there were red faces there were all chris pauses there are these really embarrassing jig it was certainly i think rare public to him to parents and somebody would say off days before and that's probably quite a good thing this is summing up where halfway through the coalition now of course a huge question was whether the coalition again to be breaking up whether they're going to stay together the main message from the to leaders was presenting a united front that they're in this for the full five years of course their plans that they laid out the next steps that are going to follow already being criticized

by the opposition who says this is and he promises no real substance here you know there was a lot of summing up we're going to get the details of this sort of bulk midterm or the in the coming weeks that some of the things that they thought touched upon that they feel they've achieved and among the things like the welfare reform the education reform you know you cast your mind back to what that actually entailed we saw these huge protest movements a hike in the university fees a huge outrage and feet of london you know i think when you get this bulk of detail like this some he certainly seems to be brushed eva as i said a little bit awkward and it is very noticeable that people were laughing genuinely that was sort of met with a kind of a nice silence in some part saying you know this is no laughing matter it's a very serious point in the coalition there are big questions for the future of this and the question still remain every time they give an appearance like this we ask about europe and people trying to clean

a bit more information and you know it is quite short on substance i think a lot of people just be hating the plans that were laid out today in the game to be better received than the prime minister's take at the take a little bit of a place to live as a detail of what the coalition has achieved or not as the case may be here's my colleague. well it does look like the pride extinct that's according to one prominent pensions expert here in the u.k. he says that by twenty fifty they could be no more because it turns out that just twelve percent of young people in their twenty's and thirty's are saving for their retirement so we've got a lot of young people in the u.k. who aren't thinking about their pensions atoll and that's leading to concerns over a potential pensions gap in the future the sad reality is that young people nowadays they have a lot of very immediate financial pressures on that plate and with austerity

measures in full swing with the financial crisis we've got young people on very low wages having to live with a very high cost of living at the same time they could have debts in the form of university fees that they have to pay off if they're lucky they'll have a mortgage but the the truth is is that a lot of young people have all these very immediate precious and so they just don't have time to think about putting money away for thirty forty is down the line that's money that they might not see again and there's a double sort of irony in this because by the time that they retire the pension age is going to be at least sixty eight and there are reports saying that some people have said that well if the pension age is going to be sixty eight we might not live that long so why it's fake.

belfast has seen a fifth straight night of violence as police line plastic bullets and water cannons at hundreds of loyalist protesters the angry mobs hurled fire bombs and brakes at the authorities injuring three sixty officers have been wounded in balls of violence over the last five weeks sin city halls decision to only fly the union flag on special days analysts and political blogger mikel t. things it shows the loyalists don't have enough representation in local politics. what we're seeing here is in northern ireland as a result of the peace process we have a government in which everyone who's elected to the parliament is part of the government that leaves no spheres for parliamentary opposition and someone

something like this happens certain mostly working class clothing suddenly in lower middle class communities to is being provocative there is no political way of actually expressing your opposition so to some extent we're seeing just hard difficult it is to mom age a popular protest in a situation where there is no option to change the government so to speak because the government includes everyone who ever gets elected change in direction and search of a better life after a short break we report from ben as well i'm with you becoming an appealing face for those who fail to find economic and social paradigms a more traditional havens. innovation

all the developments from around russia we've got the future covered. thank you thank. you thank you. thank you thank you thank you. thank you. thank you thank you. thank you. thank you thank you thank.

you. thank you. thank you. north korea knowing so it's reclusiveness untied internet controls is playing host to a high profile visit from the us one of the guests being at the head of online giant google the trip while promoted as a private and humanitarian one is breeding speculation about the company's plans to expand into the secretive state washington frons upon the visit calling for sanctions on pyongyang off to a recent rocket launch meanwhile the have been reports that north korean authorities are hiring german economists to help open the country up for foreign investment a torrent of franco from the university of vienna says economic development in north korea is still a distant dream. the big problem is actually not north korea or willingness to receive investors it is the reluctance of western investors to actually go to north

korea the north korean western environment is not the worst cure for although the state has been trying a lot still the do have reports of investors who have difficulties with the red tape and also were her change in attitude of the government you know about investors specially chinese investors who have left the country frustration the biggest problem i think for us the worst is all over western sanctions this very easy actually it's almost impossible not to while they don't use action if you deal with north korea because almost anything is dual use the procedures of checking whether you are or not why would sanctions are very complicated because. there's also a great deal of of unknown and insecurity about what the actual rules are and my freshman is that this is keeping away the best and of the rest there's a particular big ones getting on the cheap there's a controversial day being set aside on the gallon die in the united states right

wing group of americans as organize a special day to call on owners of weapons to buy them admire them online. and on the mystery of the missing million dollar mattie's sledgehammer wielding thieves nationally twenty five years ago but now it's turned up again. a kurdish militant raged on a turkish border post has left thirteen people dead soldiers eventually managed to force back the attackers insurgency in the south east has rolled on for three decades with talks resolve the separate as crisis showing no signs of yielding results and as a rino going to school reports turkey meddling in syria may only embolden militants at home. that's of turkey's prime minister may have shot himself in the food by openly supporting the syrian opposition the country's leader may have overlooked the fact syria's political mayhem may have on turkey especially in the border areas

largely populated by kurds some observers believe any turmoil in the region between on karate damascus will have a devastating effect on to guns country. turkey now involved virtually in a war it's used as a base by the syrian rebels and is now good to the kurds are more just perfectly predictable but the dangers here argued early guns reasoning behind his support for the rebels can stem from lessons of the recent past. what do you. make. of the. syrian opposition because they've made the same mistake in iraq with the kurdish region which is. now. i think the problem in syria but that could

come as a dear cost. conflict between turks and kurds has been simmering for some thirty years with thousands of victims of both sides in fact the last eighteen months have seen seven hundred deaths from the confrontation between turkish security forces and the kurdistan workers party or p k k recognized by some western nations as a terrorist organization some believe the thirty million kurds are ready to rise at a moment's notice to at least gain some autonomy if not reach their ultimate goal the kurdish state the syrian crisis may very well provide such an opportunity and uncross increasing animosity towards both kurds and damascus it may very well be turkey that will end up being the biggest loser in this call that. game kurdish representatives in the turkish general assembly firmly believe no matter the outcome of the conflict the kurds in syria are set for some sort of autonomy and they're eager to follow suit the syrian kurds so will have their own status

political status autonomy for long years are also struggling for a democratic autonomy we want our identity to be recognized and we won the. democratic autonomy regional autonomy then we should have our south governance right but these desires seem to fall on deaf ears within the turkish government without corrals kurdish conflicts coming under increasing scrutiny from human rights organizations accusations of rape torture kidnappings and use of chemical weapons against suppose a pretty separatist have been backed up by independent groups the reports and investigations and are a major stumbling block on and crusade for e.u. membership the turkish government nevertheless seems determined to avoid the issue altogether instead of turning its attention across the border into syria if you

know gosh go r.t. . and turkish involvement in syria's internal war becomes more apparent natoma batteries and hundreds of military personnel from the e.u. and the us head into a border for what the alliance describes as protection from my uncle's volatile neighbor moan that ahead when. they arizona's jobless rate has had a new record high with spain again suffering the most followed by greece on nearly twelve percent out of work across the block over a quarter of people in spain can find a job and worrying number comes amid fresh demonstrations in madrid thousands of doctors have been marching against government plans to be privatized health care and they feel will ultimately lead to further jobs have been a political analyst miguel i'm sure marotta says that it's an alarming sign that traditionally pro-government medical workers turn out in protest but it's

interesting about these protests in the healthcare sector is that it's different from a sociological point of view from all the protests we're seeing around spain we've seen of course teachers and. public sector workers of all sorts transporter all the services are basically on strike or are staging protests now what is different about the is that you have doctors which are traditionally in spain like elsewhere are traditionally more conservative very much the same they backed the government prior to election so this is their own people very center happy with the way the government is going so i think it will it will make a difference it will it will cost some extra problems for that for the current government. as unemployment brings despair to what was once a land of prosperity many of those who are hunting for better live and almost making some unexpected choices you see cavanagh reports from venezuela on why the

country is becoming watch active place to move to. with no end in sight to the financial crisis many are finding refuge in countries with an alternative economic model or some venezuela represents a whole new opportunities the bolivarian republic may be a surprising choice after all it's been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the hemisphere whose murder rate exceeds that of iraq still the world bank says venezuela draws the largest number of immigrants after argentina with one million flocking here in two thousand and ten alone the most will soon. get weaker rosa is one of them after decades of struggling in the u.s. she decided to start anew in venezuela. and that's come to you completely alone when you go that trying to find a new way to really learn nobody helps you there nobody in caracas the helping hand came from the government a cheap loan to kickstart

a small business and subsidies that enabled her to purchase this home that's why rosa and others like her see the country as a place where. you can move more freely here you have more opportunities. robust economic growth and increased spending on social projects to help create those opportunities having the state on your side in terms of the benefits is a huge think as you don't have to worry about your basic necessities everyone has the right to universal free health care quality health care education at all levels the government provide subsidies to start up small businesses medium sized businesses that do the same in terms of housing to help people if they're coming from a country where the economic crisis is so bad they've been cutting all those benefits but as well it begins to look like a paradise that may certainly seem to be the case for those on the bottom president hugo chavez helped bring the poverty rate down from fifty percent when he took office to roughly thirty one percent and the u.n. says venezuela has the lowest level of inequality in latin america.

it's one child as diehard supporters among the poor but what about the rich critics say childless is ilya meeting the wealthy many of whom turned out in droves to vote for his opponent in october the contended election twenty first century socialism hasn't helped us it has hurt still a job his opponents claim his so-called socialist experiment for problems like limited foreign investment they say that it's driving businessmen and entrepreneurs out of the country. by daniel year jews himself a young businessman disagrees after spending twelve years in barcelona he decided to return to venezuela not just for the economic benefits he says but for the chance to partake in a different sort of future order there are two very different political forces in this country one wants to move towards capitalism the other is on the path of socialism in the october election the people of venezuela voted to make the country greener fairer to create more opportunities i mean in this regard many venezuelans

like myself have decided to return home and so they do showing that for some gambling in venezuela system may be worth the risk you see catherine of r.t. venezuela. around the world now and in china hundreds of people have rallied in a rare show of support for liberal newspaper funded slogans for political and democratic reform outside the news headquarters of southern weekly the paper had been forced to change an editorial calling for reform of the ruling communist party the protest comes after dozens of academics in china signed an open letter calling for the resignation of the provincial propaganda minister who they blame for the censorship. and advance party of nato troops have left for turkey where they will deploy patriot missiles on the syrian border a larger group of european soldiers will arrive later this month when they'll join the dutch and german counterpart the military alliance says it's deploying the

missiles to protect civilians in turkey but serious sees it as an act of provocation john as money well of oxen writers says as support for the mission is lacking in many european countries of course it is a high risk human shield law takes place there but this is what we saw already in the past with other international missions the governments don't seem to be so concerned about what will bring the future in this area but we see something else we see that the population in the european countries if i can say at all during if the population is strongly against such missions everybody knows who sees the situation right there at the border the court is taking place each of you not just since yesterday but several months that the leaders that are released are coming from turkey on syrian soil to do what to kill their people so turkey is right now a security danger for syria not the other way. looking out over the numbers to see

who's cooking the books that's loyalists and capital accounts. usually crime is a plague of the big cities but in a tiny arkansas town of twenty five thousand it is really getting out of hand pure gold as a property crime index of more than double the national average and rape burglary and assault are also way above average poor pergolas a dangerous place to live in but what's the answer to living in constant fear of criminals well the mayor thinks that the answer to that problem is to live in constant fear of the government how logical the mayor and police chief have a doorstop plan to send out police patrols with

a ar fifteen and full swat armor to i guess intimidate the local population into submission well actually the plan is for them to stand around it ask people an important question ask them to show id the answer to crime isn't a police state sending guys out with automatic weapons and body armor around just to check people's i.d.'s like it's the berlin wall or something won't do anything a guy who breaks into your house for crystal meth money isn't going to be affected by this only the good average citizens will have to show an armed thug of their id just to go buy milk but that's just my opinion. and this is a pretty good indication free storage free. range chickens free. three. free.

food free bowl. yes going to video for your media projects revealed on to our t.v. dot com. good afternoon welcome to capital account i'm lauren lyster here in washington d.c. these are headlines for friday december twenty first two thousand and twelve today is a good time to reflect on this. mayan calendar which predicts the end of time. on the twenty first december of this year. that would be today and the world didn't end i think it's fair to say so we will reflect on what may lie ahead in the coming new year or reflect on this here an economic trend dave cullum is a cornell chemistry professor but he's known in finance for his annual year in review which is out today and he is here in studio to talk about it let us stocks drop as house republicans cancel a vote on the fiscal cliff political disarray hits stock markets the.